Tag Archive for Charter Schools

Karma and Hypocrisy

Karma: Fate or destiny resulting from one’s previous action.

Hypocrisy: The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess.

The supremely unctuous Stephen Henderson, Managing Director of Opinion and Commentary at the Detroit Free Press, got canned Friday for sexual harassment. Free Press Editor and Vice President Peter Bhatia has elected to shield us from the lurid details, a courtesy not afforded by the Free Press to the many others accused of sexual harassment during the current national feeding frenzy.

The allegations originally surfaced in a press conference the Reverend W. J. Rideout III, pastor of Our God’s People Church in Detroit, held last week. Reverend Rideout got suspended from his radio show on WFDF 910 AM for his efforts. Steve Neavling, a former Free Press reporter who was fired for his contretemps with homosexual teen groomer Charles Pugh in 2012, pursued the story on his own WFDF radio show as well as his Motor City Muckraker web site. Neavling had to enjoy the predicament of the Free Press, and probably Henderson too. Henderson was already a big shot at the Detroit Free Press when Neavling got railroaded.

You Betcha! (19)Nuh Uh.(1)

MAPSA Not On Board With Snyder Schools Plan

MAPSA Statement on Gov. Snyder’s Detroit Education Plan

The Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA) has been the voice of the public charter school movement in Michigan since 1996.

According to them, Governor Snyder’s Detroit Schools plan doesn’t work. Dan Quisenberry, President of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA), the state charter school association, says:

“We all agree that every child in Detroit – and every child in Michigan – deserves a great education in a great school. Everything we do should move us closer to that goal. Based on what we’ve seen, we have concerns with any plan that takes decisions out of the hands of parents, and puts them in the hands of a single, politically appointed person.

“We need to raise student achievement in Detroit and solve DPS’s financial situation, and from what we’ve seen and heard, this proposal does neither. ..

What? A new bureaucracy is bad?

Snyder outlined a plan in April that called for the creation of a new Detroit Education District to oversee traditional and charter schools.

Ahhh.. Emphasis engaged.

You Betcha! (4)Nuh Uh.(0)

It’s The Little Things

Like when a district superintendent mishandles a simple charter school arrangement to a point of incompetency.

That turn into the big things.

superintendent-inkedWhat happens when a failing public school government becomes financially envious of a successful charter operation it oversees?  It tries to take it over. That is the unspoken punch line in a story carried by Capital Confidential last year.

“Livonia Public Schools is the authorizer of Hinoki International School, but the school district now is moving to start its own Japanese magnet school in the same building used by Hinoki.”

In 2014, Livonia Public Schools used its power to put Hinoki charter school out of business by ending the school’s building lease one year before the charter authorization was to expire.  Hinoki, a Japanese immersion ‘magnet school’ was in a growth phase, and showed financial strength that appeared attractive to the struggling LPS superintendent Randy Liepa.

Spurred on by a disgruntled Hinoki principal, Liepa and LPS cancelled the lease for the immersion program, while at the same time used the exact same location to start a district run Japanese immersion school. This of course left Hinoki, (the successful school that was growing)  without a building. It also meant that the school would lose its charter authorization from the Livonia Public Schools in a 6-1 vote.

“Gosh, so sorry..  We really hate to see you leave..”

Hinoki did not operate for the 2014-2015 school year.

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(2)

Through the Gates of Common Coreism

Alas! The corporate cat is finally out of the crony capitalism bag.

“There is a massive transition to digital happening across the country and around the world in education, and schools looking to prepare their students for the world beyond the classroom are empowering their students and teachers by providing devices, services, training and other elements needed for improved student outcomes,” Margo Day, vice president of U.S. education at Microsoft, said in the news release. “At Microsoft, we are proud to be a partner with so many great schools that are leading the way forward for education and in preparing our youth for tomorrow’s workforce.”

If the last part of that Day’s quote sounds familiar, it should. Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and other Common Core supporters have used that same language – probably word for word in some instances – to justify the one-size-fits-all learning standards that they’re busy foisting onto schools in more than 40 states.

The official fairy tale – er, “narrative” – of Common Core goes something like this: THE REST

So, what might fit perfectly in Michigan, for that agenda? Oh, perhaps a Slick former CEO of crappy computers with cow patterned boxes who is well versed in the art of government contracts? Hmm, I wonder. Perhaps, a billionaire with stealth agenda glomming onto his longstanding crony Bush family ties to a Board that’s chaired by li’l Jeb, sniffing at a disastrous presidential run so he can share bragging rights at get togethers on the holidays?

Nah. That’s just “Wacko-Bird!” kind of thinking. Then again… res ipsa loquitur.

Good God! Frank Foster is either a functional illiterate or, a liar.

You Betcha! (27)Nuh Uh.(0)